After announcing that it is “time to end the stigma against career education,” Louisiana superintendent of education John White unveiled Jump Start, a revamp of the state’s career and technical training efforts. The new program would see school districts, two-year colleges, and private firms establishing regional teams to offer high school juniors and seniors courses and workplace training.

Despite the research that finds that first-year teachers recruited by Teach For America (TFA) perform at least as well as their peers, TFA faces criticisms of its training and retention efforts. In response, Teach for America will pilot a program that gives new recruits a year of preparation and emphasizes staying in the teaching profession longer than the mandatory two years.